Whatever Happened to Randolph Dial?

As frustrating as I find Oklahoma on occasion, I will say one thing for my home state: We sure have great crime stories.

More than 10 years ago, a convicted murderer named Randolph Dial escaped from a state prison in Granite, Okla., with the wife of a deputy warden. Dial was a trusty in charge of the prison arts program, while the woman, Bobbi Parker, was the prison art program's coordinator.

Now, the FBI reports that the star-crossed pair have been found in East Texas. Dial and Parker were running several chicken farms. Dial was taken into custody, but Parker -- who claims she was kidnapped and held prisoner for 10 years (yeah, right) -- wasn't arrested.

" 'As far as I know, she has no intention of leaving,' Shelby County Sheriff Newton Johnson said late Monday. 'She said she wants to stay on the farm and raise chickens.'

"However, Johnson said Bobbi Parker asked an FBI agent about her daughters and husband, Randy Parker. She appeared healthy and unharmed, the sheriff said."

The whole thing screams out for a made-for-TV movie.

Poor Randy Parker. Now, we may be wrong about this whole scenario, but it doesn't appear to get much more cuckolded -- in a James M. Cain sort of way -- than being dumped by your wife of 12 years for a convicted murderer. To make matters worse, Dial, who was housed in a minimum-security prison, was doing yard maintenance for the Parker family at the time of his escape. The scene of the shirtless, rough-talking convict asking the warden's comely wife for a glass of cold lemonade practically writes itself.

Moreover, Dial was an accomplished artist whose forte was pottery. Anyone remember that steamy pot-throwing scene from Ghost?

I'm tellin' yah: Made-for-TV movie.

FADE IN ...

EXT -- RURAL FARMHOUSE -- DAY

Chickens scatter about, kicking up DUST, as we see the STILETTO HEELS of a woman traipse across the yard. She is dropping chicken feed for the squawking birds when she stops at the distant sound of POLICE SIRENS ...

Ooohh ... this has potential...